Posted on 07/22/2005 8:33:15 AM PDT by Tumbleweed_Connection
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Friday that terrorists come "in all sizes and shapes and forms" and it wouldn't be fair for police to profile terrorism suspects on the basis of a Middle Eastern appearance.
Asked about the city's random stop and search policy, which Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said Thursday would forbid racial profiling, Bloomberg told WABC Radio host John Gambling: "I think if we've learned anything, it is, you can't predict what a terrorist looks like."
"You want to have restrictions [on police terrorism searches]," Bloomberg explained. "You want to have the police to have the burden of being very careful and never discriminating."
"If you think that everybody with blue eyes is a terrorist, you can't just stop everybody with blue eyes," he added. "Terrorists come in all sizes and shapes and forms."
When Gambling reminded that "a higher percentage of them come from a certain section of the world," Bloomberg acknowledged: "That is true."
"But John," the mayor shot back, "the essence of our freedom is that you are presumed innocent - you're innocent until proven guilty. The presumption of innocence is the fundamental [value] of our society. And you just can't go and say everybody who has blue eyes - my example - is a terrorist just because most terrorists that you've caught have blue eyes."
Bloomberg acknowledged that his profiling ban would make it easier for terrorists to succeed in their next attack, but still insisted the practice was "unreasonable."
"It is just not a reasonable, not a rational - nothing that we want in our society," he maintained. "That does make it more difficult for the police - yes. But it's been more difficult for 235 years and we've kept the democracy and that's the challenge that we have to meet."
Wrapping up on the topic, Bloomberg caught himself profiling terrorists by sex - then quickly amended his comments, telling WABC:
"If you had no restrictions [on police searches]; number one, you'd give up all our freedoms; and number two, I don't know that you'd necessarily do any better at catching the bad guys - or that they are guys."
Hey guys, this is not one we can lay just of the libs. W's secretary of transportation has the same mentality.
And keep in mind that Police Commissioner was Mayor Dinkins' Police commissioner too.
You forgot a few. As we've learned from Britain, there are a number of blacks (OK, people of African descent) who are also Muslims. Think Sudan. You also have to think of Indonesians, etc.
More citizens will die on account of this PC bullsh-t!
ALL'S FAIR IN LOVE AND WAR!
Do they not realize that this is war?
Hey Bloomie, when was the last terrorist attack where the terrorist didn't look "Middle Eastern"?
You're a moron.
If NYC is attacked (and I certainly hope it will not be), this idiotic policy of yours will be partly to blame.
And what have they done to us lately?
Perhaps someone needs to compile some photos of typical terrorists for Mr. Bloomberg.
That being said I don't think it's smart. Racial profiling adds too many soft spots for the terrorists to exploit. Palestinians have used women. What's to say the terrorists won't do that here. Or find some disgruntled non-Muslim, convince him his woes are our fault and strap him with explosives. Or join forces with some Weather Underground/SLA types. etc. etc.
Bottom Line: the smart answer is to search everyone. And seal the border.
Yea but they were bank robbers. Terrorism was a red herring.
Then why search anyone? They're all presumed innocent.
Fools would rather see blood in the streets and body parts all over than risk offending a Muslim.
Posy 9-11 I personally saw a 6 year old blond blue eyed little girl wearing a mickey mouse backpack get pulled aside for a search before she boarded a flight from Memphis to Orlando with her family that was obviously on vacation. I have also personally witnessed middle eastern males traveling alone *not* searched. Political Correctness has turned our security into an absurd waste of money.
Flat-out false statement. Bloomberg is a complete moron, but then, anybody who's been paying attention knows that already.
Political correctness has nothing to do with truth, nor is truth ever a defense against a charge of political incorrectness. Get with the program!
I went to the end to find something close to what's on my mind. If we were to question Americans about the incident, how do you think they would react to the shooting?
And we've learned this by noting that 99% of terrorists are middle eastern young men?
"But John," the mayor shot back, "the essence of our freedom is that you are presumed innocent - you're innocent until proven guilty."
If this made any sense, random searches would violate this principle, too.
Being targeted for a search is not the same as being accused of a crime. Bloomberg is an idiot.
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